Mercedes Benz has sold more than 5700 vehicles in the first nine months of this year while it sold 5600 units in the whole of 2010. Mercedes Benz which commands tremendous brand equity in India and was the first German maker to start operations in India in the 1990s, has been stung by BMW that has consistently sold more cars in India in the last two years despite being a relative unknown. Mercedes Benz has hit back with a two pronged strategy of opening more dealerships even in tier II and tier III towns and also has been launching newer models. For now the strategy seems to have worked since it has sold more cars this year in nine months than it did in the whole of last year. Mercedes is aiming to exceed 7000 units sale by the time this calender year ends. The question is will this be enough to beat BMW which still has its nose ahead in terms of sales figures?